Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=aab8b11a-cfb3-4f3b-a8b3-49b61d181f45
Writer issues pandemic warning
Graeme Morton, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008
Community engagement, often led by church and faith groups, will be a key ingredient to dealing with any future pandemic, according to a Calgary author and advocate.
Andrew Nikiforuk told a church-led conference on pandemic preparedness that the general public are often the first responders to any emergency, be it a medical crisis or a natural disaster.
"And it's almost always the case that people respond to these emergencies with creativity and resourcefulness," says Nikiforuk, author of Pandemonium: Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease and other Biological Plagues of the 21st Century.
"Centralized, top-down decisions without any consultation or involvement with the grassroots just don't work very well. The question remains: 'Will the public take a pill if it doesn't trust the doctor?' " Nikiforuk adds.
Nikiforuk says history has shown a connected, harmonious community is vital in mitigating the effects of an event like a bid flu pandemic.
He pointed to a devastating heat wave in Chicago in July 1995 when more than 600 deaths were recorded in five days.
The highest mortality rates were found in neighbourhoods where there was, in Nikiforuk's words, a social void. Seniors died when they locked themselves in sweltering apartments, afraid of strangers and with no one checking in on them. In other communities, where people knew and cared about each other, the death rate was much lower.
Nikiforuk says the health-care system will be swamped in the early weeks of any bird flu pandemic. Faith and community groups will have the chance to play important roles in caring for those within their reach.
"If you enlist the general public in both the planning and execution, good things will happen," Nikiforuk says.
He noted that in the wake of the global flu pandemic in 1918-19, New Brunswick had notably low death rates.
"Hotels were turned into hospitals, schools became cafeterias, and health officials used the network of Roman Catholic parishes to connect with people," says Nikiforuk.
"The outcome of a pandemic is never written in stone. We as a community could create a shining example of what can be accomplished when people work together."
Gmorton@theherald.Canwest.Com
? The Calgary Herald 2008
Writer issues pandemic warning
Graeme Morton, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008
Community engagement, often led by church and faith groups, will be a key ingredient to dealing with any future pandemic, according to a Calgary author and advocate.
Andrew Nikiforuk told a church-led conference on pandemic preparedness that the general public are often the first responders to any emergency, be it a medical crisis or a natural disaster.
"And it's almost always the case that people respond to these emergencies with creativity and resourcefulness," says Nikiforuk, author of Pandemonium: Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease and other Biological Plagues of the 21st Century.
"Centralized, top-down decisions without any consultation or involvement with the grassroots just don't work very well. The question remains: 'Will the public take a pill if it doesn't trust the doctor?' " Nikiforuk adds.
Nikiforuk says history has shown a connected, harmonious community is vital in mitigating the effects of an event like a bid flu pandemic.
He pointed to a devastating heat wave in Chicago in July 1995 when more than 600 deaths were recorded in five days.
The highest mortality rates were found in neighbourhoods where there was, in Nikiforuk's words, a social void. Seniors died when they locked themselves in sweltering apartments, afraid of strangers and with no one checking in on them. In other communities, where people knew and cared about each other, the death rate was much lower.
Nikiforuk says the health-care system will be swamped in the early weeks of any bird flu pandemic. Faith and community groups will have the chance to play important roles in caring for those within their reach.
"If you enlist the general public in both the planning and execution, good things will happen," Nikiforuk says.
He noted that in the wake of the global flu pandemic in 1918-19, New Brunswick had notably low death rates.
"Hotels were turned into hospitals, schools became cafeterias, and health officials used the network of Roman Catholic parishes to connect with people," says Nikiforuk.
"The outcome of a pandemic is never written in stone. We as a community could create a shining example of what can be accomplished when people work together."
Gmorton@theherald.Canwest.Com
? The Calgary Herald 2008